Early Warning Siren System Test set for Surry September 8

Richmond, VA - State and local officials will test the early warning siren system around the Surry Nuclear Power Station on Wednesday, September 8, at approximately 11:10 a.m. A steady three-minute tone will be sounded by 67 sirens in Williamsburg, Newport News and the counties of Surry, James City, York and Isle of Wight. The sirens are located in a 10-mile radius of the plant.

The siren system alerts the public to tune in to their local radio or television Emergency Alert System (EAS) station for information. A list of area EAS stations is located in the yellow pages of the phone directory in the affected areas, as well as in the annual Surry Power Station emergency information calendar mailed to households in the region.

Full-scale siren tests consist of a single three-minute activation and are conducted quarterly, on the second Wednesdays of March, June, September and December. The next test of the Surry siren system will be Wednesday, December 8, 2004.

The alerting system signifying an actual emergency at Surry Power Station consists of four separate, three-minute activations, each separated by a one-minute silent interval. (Total elapsed time for actual emergency notification is 15 minutes.)

The Virginia Department of Emergency Management, Dominion Virginia Power and the localities where the sirens are located will participate in the September 8 test.